Owen Foster's Character Rich Toyota 4Runner & Chromag Surface

Owen Foster's jacked up hillbilly Toyota 4Runner juxtaposed against his detail-oriented Chromag Surface hardtail.

Owen names his vehicles and bikes. His ’95 4Runner SR5 is called Zombie. It was a good name for the original gloss black beast, but it’s even more fitting now with that matte black rattle can spray job. By estimates, it cost about 3% of the bill a proper body shop/painter would charge. It cost Owen $80 and a morning of masking and spraying.

Zombie rolls on a set of 35 x 12.5-inch BF Goodrich Mud Terrain tires, wrapped around 15-inch wheels. The tires are typically aired up to 20psi in the front and 15psi rear. Grip is high and off-road she’s a smooth ride. On asphalt, it’s a different story though.

As with all old vehicles, the engine bay is dirty and oily with rust mixed in. Gear ratios have been reworked for the large tires, but it's otherwise stock.

Everything runs well but with the wheel and suspension modifications it gets ‘terrible gas mileage’. Despite its age, it only has 180,000km on it and is in good condition for a 23-year-old vehicle.

The 4Runner sits on a 4-inch body lift, poised another 6 inches off the ground thanks to the suspension lift. The wheel wells are aftermarket as well. Owen's driven the 4Runner as far as possible up every FSR within 50km of Squamish.

With the exception of the rattle can paint, Owen purchased the vehicle as is. That includes the custom mud flaps, which are made from a single semi-truck mud flap cut in half. They’re mounted via a custom fabricated rail hitch attached to the frame.

Surprisingly there is no clutter up front. A thin layer of dust from summer offroad travel coats the inside. But other than that, it's kept quite clean.

Owen is quite into his music, so it was surprising to find no custom speaker system in the car. The upgraded stereo, like most of the vehicle, remains as it was when he purchased it.

The rear of Owen’s 4Runner has some interesting custom pieces too. Holding his bike rack in place is a custom fabricated hitch in place of a bumper. Issues with clearance during shuttles are minimal with this setup…

Without a proper bumper, there’s less concern of bumps and scrapes. Though I’m not sure it would matter anyway.

Owen's 4Runner doubles as a tool shed. A permanent fixture in the back, they make it easy to grab and go on a trail work mission.

Some of the tools don't make it all the way back either. Also note the custom Kashima bottle opener. It was made for Owen by a friend from New Zealand. Who doesn't want one of these!?

Owen's custom-built Chromag Surface is a looker that includes a very carefully selected parts spec. The long wet winter of 2015/16 is to blame for the beautiful bike and in 2016 it won the Chromag Show & Shine.

Sheena’s custom paint was inspired by a drum kit that Owen lusted for as a teenager. He was finally able to get it—the colour that is, the drums never happened. Owen opted for the Chromag cursive logo often found on their softgoods.

Working at OneUp you can bet the bike is kitted out with a selection of their parts. Cleverly, Owen removed anything new or proto from the bike.

An MRP Ribbon air was chosen for its versatility. Owen changes the travel between 130 and 160mm (and it can be done in 5mm increments). Sheena is converted into an overland machine for bigger, gravel-type missions in the spring with the fork lowered to 130mm and a set of semi-slicks thrown on. Currently, it sits at 160mm.

Keeping it Canadian. Sheena was originally built with Easton Arc rims but after riding a bike with a set of We Are One Agent wheels, Owen had to have a set for himself.

That delicious glossy candy apple red.

Chromag touchpoints finish off the carefully selected build. When deciding on frame size, Owen took into account that the fit was almost identical to his second bike at the time; a Norco Sight. Switching between bikes was easy with them being so similar.

And what about those Shigura XT7 brakes? Owen mated a pair of Shimano XTR master-cylinders to Magura MT7 calipers.

The lines, fluid and caliper are all Magura. Owen prefers the ergonomics of the Shimano lever and says there's "so much stopper, it's silly".